A. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of stenciling. More particularly, the invention relates to a novel peelable penetrating ink and a method of using the ink to stencil objects such as fielding gloves, balls, and other sporting goods made of leather or synthetic polymers.
B. Description of Background Art
The permanent marking of a name or other identifying characters on personal possessions has long been considered a prudent practice to prevent loss and discourage theft of one's belongings. The possibility of loss or theft is increased for obvious reasons, when articles are taken out of the home and shared with others. For this reason, sporting goods and accessories such as balls, sport bags, jerseys, football helmets, baseball gloves, etc. are frequently marked with identifying names, numbers or characters. Common lettering or imprinting methods are often employed commercially to put names, numbers, or other identifying characters on these articles. Such methods include embroidery, silkscreen, printing, hot melt lettering, etching, etc. Commercial imprinting methods however, generally use expensive machinery which requires skill to operate, set up time, etc; and therefore require a certain minimum volume of work to be cost effective. Such methods are therefore, not economically practical solutions for individuals' personal identification needs. In addition, typical commercial imprinting methods have limitations in that they are designed to work on flat and generally smooth regular surfaces. Items which are spherical or irregular in size and shape such as sport balls and baseball fielding gloves therefore, present problems for such imprinting methods. Athletic balls, including basketballs and playground balls, present additional problems for some of these methods since they are air-filled and cannot tolerate the high temperatures required for some imprinting methods.
Baseball fielding gloves and particularly athletic and sport balls such as basketballs have additional problems for identification since they are used under circumstances where their surfaces are subject to abrasive forces. Sport balls such as basketballs, playground balls, and even soccer balls and footballs, are often used repetitively on abrasive surfaces such as asphalt or concrete. Under such use any surface identification markings are quite rapidly abraded or removed.
A common marking technique used by individuals is the free-hand application of ink or dye to an article's surface, using felt tip markers, ball point pens or other such marking devices or instruments. This freehand identification technique, while convenient and easy to use, has many drawbacks. The results, however expedient, oftentimes appear almost as a defacement of the article in contrast to the existing professional lettering and graphics imprinted on the article by the manufacturer. In addition, felt tip or ballpoint pen marking devices are designed to apply the ink very thinly. A rapidly evaporating solvent carrier is also usually employed in such inks to restrict dripping or running of the ink medium which would ruin the lettering effect. Consequently, only the article's surface is marked and little or no penetration of colorant beneath the article's surface takes place. Any identifying marks placed on a ball or glove, for example, could be easily worn off with repeated use and would have to be reapplied. Also, any such surface marks could be easily abraded and removed with sandpaper or perhaps washed off with a solvent by someone intent on theft. Articles manufactured from natural leather allow more penetration of colorants due to the leather's porosity as opposed to articles manufactured from synthetic leather, synthetic rubber, and various proprietary plastic polymers. Articles made from such synthetic, generally thermoplastic, materials, which are usually much more resistant to the penetration of dyes or colorants than leather, are thus more difficult to mark permanently.
It has been demonstrated in many early prior art patents, such as, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,260,543 to Smith and U.S. Pat. No. 3,830,626 to Rosenberger et al. that various thermoplastic articles composed of materials such PVC can be penetrated with a dye at ambient temperatures for the purpose of applying a uniform coloration or a variegated coloration to produce an aesthetic contrast, below the article's surface. Such coloration methods have been accomplished by combining the dye with a solvent and allowing the dye to dissolve into the plasticizer of the article. Many other methods have been developed that enable plastic surfaces to be dye-penetrated with characters or other identifying marks. U.S. Pat. No. 3,519,466 to Akamatsu, U.S. Pat. No. 4,668,239 to Durand and U.S. Pat. No. 4,820,310 to Fukui are examples. These methods render an effective abrasion resistance to the articles marked; however, the methods generally require that the thermoplastic articles be heated close to their melting points. Dyes are then allowed to diffuse or sublimate into the heat softened article. The processes also usually require the article to be washed, to remove any dye additive, and then dried. Since prior art techniques usually require high temperatures near the melting point of the article material, along with washing and drying steps, the techniques are generally more suitable tor commercial or industrial applications and are rather impractical for individual use.
Stencilling has been proven to be a versatile, quick, and time-proven method for individuals to achieve accurate and consistent lettering or character representations on a wide variety of surfaces and objects. The technique consists essentially of applying a surface coating of paints or inks through appropriately shaped perforations in a stencil sheet onto personal articles such as sport bags and clothing. Stencilling is a well known expedient, and individual stencilling kits to perform such tasks have also been developed. However, the present inventor is unaware of stencilling materials or methods useable by an individual to produce subsurface markings or dye penetration on a variety of textured objects such as sports balls and gloves made of various materials, including natural and synthetic leathers.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,316,766 to Levin describes unconventional stencils where the stencil openings are formed by a multitude of small perforations formed by an electrostatic process. This process appears to be designed primarily for the chemical etching of glass surfaces. The inventor implies that this method could also be used with solvent based marking systems. The perforation type openings described, however, could not allow the amount of dye and solvent, found necessary in experiments performed by the present inventor, to effect subsurface penetration to any appreciable depth. The process disclosed in Levin, if adapted for dyeing, would also have the disadvantage of requiring the surface to be washed of excess dye and thickener.
In order to effect subsurface dyeing with stencils, the present inventor has found it necessary to first saturate a surface with a sufficient amount of dye and solvent mixture and allow the mixture to persist on a surface for a period of time. The stencilling art, however, has traditionally admonished against such a practice, teaching that colorants must be applied very dryly or sparingly to avoid seepage under the stencils. Indeed, special stencilling brushes have been developed towards this end.
Stencils used in dyeing are used primarily in conjunction with silkscreen processes, where dyes are used mainly on fabrics. In these processes, it is first necessary to add a thickening agent to the thin, watery dye mixture so that the dye solution will not run under the stencil opening and ruin the image. Common thickening agents include such substances as wheat paste, cornstarch and agar, which are made of fine particulate or colloidal material. When using these agents, initial and periodic agitation of the solution is generally necessary to keep the particles suspended so that the desired consistency of the dye mixture is maintained. Dye solutions not properly or frequently agitated can yield too watery a dye mixture by allowing the colloidal particles to settle to the bottom. The thickened mixture is generally allowed to dry and the article is washed to remove the excess dye and thickeners.
Dyeing with conventional stencils using dye mixtures thickened according to the above described silkscreen methods has been tested by the present inventor with some success. Some penetration of thermoplastic articles at ambient temperatures has been achieved to some degree in these tests. In the tests a thickened dye mixture was applied to a surface through the stencil openings and allowed to dry. The stencil was next removed and the surface washed with a suitable solvent to remove the excess dye and thickener. The article was then dried. This additional washing and drying process was found to be time consuming and carried the risk of spreading the excess dye on the intended object, one's clothes. hands, etc. This risk of spreading the dye becomes an even greater problem when using organic solvents and permanent penetrating dyes, which are necessary to cause subsurface markings.
Dyeing with stencils perhaps offers the individual a potential alternative to the many available commercial and industrial lettering methods. However, because of the above-described drawbacks, dyeing with stencils has not proven to be a reliable solution to the existing dye identification problem. There thus remains a need for a convenient way for an individual to effectively stencil or apply a deeply dyed or penetrative identification to a variety of objects including athletic balls and fielding gloves.